That Stupid Sketchbook Full of Red and Yellow
by still.fly
Summary: In which hexes don't get the message across and Jinx develops an eye twitch. Kid Flash and Jinx.
1. Hanging Out With Bad Luck

**Chapter One**

She's built up a tolerance for annoying occurrences over the years—with a team like the High Five, you really have to—but Kid Flash manages to push her buttons in ways no one has before. Especially with his dumb roses that she can't seem to throw away. And his cheeky grin and blue eyes and the lightning bolts.

She's been coloring her sketchbook red and yellow and has hexed any member of her team that even _thinks_ about stepping within a five feet radius of the thing.

Imagine how she reacts when she walks into her room and finds the speedster himself sitting on her bed and reaching for the offending sketchbook. Eyes wide with surprise, she immediately shoots one of her stronger hexes at his hand. His hand shot back, cradled into his chest, and he looked up at her with shocked blue eyes that told her that he obviously hadn't expected to be caught in the act.

She smirked, folding her arms over her chest, "Never again, Flash. Not after last time."

She quickly closed the door to her room, locking it so that no one barges in to find her all chummy with Kid Flash. He pretended like he didn't even notice and propped his feet up on her bed in complete ease. It made her eye twitch.

"Just a little peek, Jinx," He whined, smiling widely, "I want to know if you're still drawing unicorns or if you've moved on to more intimidating mythological creatures."

She scowled at him, the tips of her fingers sparking with pink energy. He usually showed up during fights. And sometimes not even then. She had to be literally facing death; only then would he swoop in and save the day. She had just finished eating breakfast. Hardly a deadly activity. Quite the contrary, actually.

She decided to voice her thoughts out loud.

"What are you doing here?"

He shrugged, "I thought we could hang out."

If she had eyebrows, one would be raised, "Hang out?" She sounded so incredulous that he may as well have been asking her if she wanted to join him on his quest to Narnia. He only nodded, quite enthusiastically if she might add. He looked absolutely ridiculous. "Why would you ever want to hang out with one of the _bad guys_?"

"Probably for the same reason you haven't called any of your super-zeroes in here to try and catch me."

She decided she would ignore the 'super-zeroes' jibe. For now. She, however, could not ignore the way he blatantly took reign of this whole situation. That was her job, and no one out did her in that field. Not even spandex-wearing heroes. Speaking of which, _this one_ looked way too smug to be considered healthy.

As in, if he kept that smug look on his face for two more seconds she would probably throttle him. And that's probably not healthy.

It was then that he decided that she looked real cute when her eye twitched like that.

"Point taken," She muttered, hating herself more and more for allowing him the upper-hand with every passing second, "Still doesn't mean I want to hang out with you." His smirk only widened, and her eye only twitched a thousand times faster. She hexed him again, but the look never let up.

It was then that she decided to just give up before she put a lot of effort into this, and she hung out with Kid Flash.

It wasn't as weird as she thought it would be, to be honest. He busied himself with finding a movie as she quickly hid her sketchbook somewhere he would never find it. He picked out an old Batman movie, made fun of her for even owning it, and then said nothing more for the next hour and a half. She honestly didn't think it was possible for him to be so quiet for so long. She chalked it up to his hero complex. He probably looked up to the big black bat.

At the end of it, they were sprawled across her bed discussing the movie intently.

"Who was your favorite character, Jinxie?"

She glared at him for the nickname but answered nonetheless, "Catwoman. Duh."

"Aww, you didn't think Penguin was cute?"

She shot him a disgusted look that said everything words couldn't.

"I liked Catwoman too, actually. She reminds me of another thief I know. 'Cept minus the whip." Jinx rolled her eyes, shoving his shoulder roughly. He winced, rubbing it gingerly. He figured this topic was giving him too much physical abuse and so decided to change it, "How do you think Bats feels about Hollywood trying to make movies about him?"

"He probably can't stand it, which is why I fervently believe that Tim Burton is really the Joker in disguise. His movies are honestly creepy enough."

"That's an interesting theory," He said, rubbing his chin in thought, "And you're probably right. That's the scary part about it."

"Of course I am. I'm always right. You only now realizing this?"

He shook his head, "It may seem like I'm disagreeing with you a lot of the time, but really I just like to push your buttons." And, oh, did he push them, "Really, I do think a lot of what your saying is logical and witty. However, there is one thing I disagree with you on . . ."

Oh no. Here comes his little 'good is better than evil' rant.

He smirked deviously.

It was obvious that he wanted her to force the answer out of him. She gulped, hoping beyond hope that she wouldn't regret this. She asked hesitantly, "Which is?"

He pulled something from behind his back, "The fact that you thought you could hide this from me." Her eyes widened in horror at what he held. Her _sketchbook_. Her sketchbook that was covered in lightning bolts and scenes with red and yellow blurs and _roses_.

She hid it in the first place someone would think to look. With her art supplies. She figured that he wouldn't be stupid enough to actually look there. It was this day that she decided that she should never underestimate stupidity. Especially Kid Flash's level of stupidity.

This _would_ happen to her.

"Kid Flash," She began threateningly, "If you so much as crack that sketchbook open even a _centimeter_, I will kill you." She was completely serious.

"I'm going to die one day anyways," His eyes were full of laughter, "But what a way to go! You're really doing a fantastic job of convincing me here." He propped the book up on his lap, holding a hand out as she lunged to get to it. His arm wasn't budging, his hand was on her face, she was _this_ close to touching her sketchbook, and her hair fell out of their ponytails in the process.

This was so humiliating.

She was practically desperate at this point. The first thing that could ever even remotely work flew from her mouth like vomit, "I'll never hang out with you ever again, Flash. I can promise you that!"

And just like that, his hand flew away from her face (leaving a Flash handprint in its wake), and the sketchbook was returned neatly to her lap. She hugged it to her chest, her heart beating wildly. That was too close of a call. _Way_ too close. When she looked up she saw scared eyes that looked horrified at the prospect she had just put forth.

A split second later, his smile was back and it was as annoying as ever.

"So," He began easily, "Because I returned it to you so readily . . . that means we can hang out some more?"

The first thing to come to her mind was that she had just royally screwed herself over. To be truthful, she almost liked hanging out with Flash. But he probably interpreted this as him being welcome any time he well pleases. That idea didn't fly so well with her. Her mind was suddenly overwhelmed with scenes of him barging in unannounced when she was changing, or when she was cuddling with Mr. Teddy, or—she gulped—when she was fondling pages in her sketchbook.

This was a delicate situation, and she didn't really know what to say. So why not just say the first thing that comes to mind?

"Sure."

He jumped up from the bed, flailing his arms around in what she assumed was a dance. She thought that he just kind of looked like an idiot when he did that. But he looked smug again and that was more than enough to annoy her to wit's end. Her eye began to twitch again.

How dare he victory dance at her expense!

She hexed him, and he fell over with a yelp.

Who's the smug one now, Flash?

The goofy grin on his face as he ate carpet told her that, perhaps, he still was.

His communicator started beeping at the same time she heard Gizmo calling her name from down the hall. He stood up, snatched it from his belt quickly, opened it briefly, and immediately put it back. He was in complete hero-mode when just a second ago he had tripped over himself and face-planted into the carpet of a _villain's_ bedroom.

"I better go," He said, grabbing her hand and kissing it, "Duty calls."

She blushed.

"Right."

He straightened, sent her a salute, and then proceeded to vibrate his molecules through her wall. Not even a second later, Gizmo was pounding on her door.

"Jinx?" He asked, "You've been in there all day long. Get off your lazy crud-munchin' butt. It's time for crime!"

Man, did she hate that rhyme.

She contemplated that for a moment, and then face-palmed.

She felt a breeze brush through her hair, saw a blur of red and yellow, and just like that it was gone. She wouldn't have been surprised if she had hallucinated the whole thing if it weren't for the rose lying on her pillow like it's been there all along.

"Just give me a minute," She called. She picked up the rose, brought it to her nose, got a good whiff, and then hid it in her dresser along with the rest of them. She fixed her hair in record time, and then opened the door and followed Gizmo down the halls until they reached the living room where the others were waiting for them.

She was in complete villain mode when just a second ago she had been treasuring a rose given to her by a _hero_.

Hell was freezing over. She could feel it.

**-End of chapter one.**

**And by that I guess I mean that there are going to be more chapters. Because I had originally planned this to be a one-shot. You know. Flash and Jinx just hanging out and it's pointless and completely fluffy. But then I thought of all the possibilities. Plus, I like this a lot more than my other Kid Flash/Jinx story. If you guys have read that, then sorry. I'm probably going to be focusing a lot more on this one just because I actually feel like I can go somewhere with this. But I'm still going to try to update Good Luck With That only because, even after not getting into it that much after like a year, I still feel like it has so much potential. You guys picking up what I'm putting down?**

**I'm starting to dig third-person point of views. So much more room to expand. I've only ever done first persons. I kind of suck at first persons. What is wrong with me. You guys probably aren't even reading this. If you are reading this, you're cooler than I am. I never read these. And yet when I write these, they're novels.**

**So give me some feedback. Heaven knows that I need it. I'm a bit rusty because I haven't been writing as much lately. But then again, it's been a year. I would hope that maybe, after a year of creative writing, I would be a little better.**

**You guys complete me.**


	2. Hot Chocolate With Bad Luck

**Chapter Two**

"It's been going on for a while now, this 'hanging out' business," Jinx said, head resting on her arm, "I already promised the guy that it was alright with me, you know? So there's not much I can do about that. I may not be the most honest person in the world, but I never back down on promises. It just kind of freaks me out sometimes. We don't do much more than play a board game, or watch a movie. I just feel this overwhelming sense of impending doom. Like one day he might want to go out. In _public_." She sighed, shaking her head until her hair fell in her eyes, "I'd be _seen _with him."

Jinx didn't mention the fact that that would involve overabundant amounts of trust. Like _a lot_ of trust. Like here's-who-I-am-off-duty kind of trust.

She looked up expectantly into the eyes of the waitress she was currently pouring her heart out to. She had straight blonde hair that went down to her shoulders, she looked to be in her early thirties or late twenties, and she was chewing heavily on a piece of bubblegum.

"Dollface," The waitress put a gentle hand on her shoulder, "Do you like this guy?" Her words were accentuated by the smacking of gum.

Jinx scrutinized her for a moment suspiciously, unsure of the waitress' motives, "I mean, I guess. Hanging out with him is bearable enough." She tugged on her hair (still pink, but straightened and falling to her shoulders), and resisted the urge to rub her eyes. The colored contacts were seriously killing her.

The waitress raised her eyebrows and popped her gum against her lips.

Jinx gasped, affronted, "I don't like him like _that_!"

"Honey, you've been coming to this café for three years now." She said, tucking her pencil behind her ear, "I know you well enough. You don't find people bearable. _Ever_. This weasel's wormed his way into your heart."

Jinx let out a few incoherent protests, paired cutely with that pesky eye twitch she had recently developed.

The blonde waitress giggled, "You've got it bad, sweetheart. The usual?"

"The usual." Jinx grumbled.

The waitress walked off with a nod. Jinx really wanted to hex that smug look of her face. She restrained herself by burying her head in her arms with a groan. Her life sucked. It really did. When she was sure that the blonde was out of sight, she lifted her head. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the bar where a nerdy looking redhead sat staring at her with this stupid smile on his face.

Jinx sneered back, ever the charming young lady.

The guy threw his head back and laughed, making Jinx's sneer more twisted and full of annoyance. Her expression, however, nearly morphed into one of horror when she saw that he was getting up from his seat at the bar and _approaching her_. Hey eyes widened when he even had the gall to slide himself into the booth across from her.

And so there they were. Her mouth was agape, his was upturned in a buffoon-like smile. She stared at him, he stared back. Her eyes zeroed in on the freckles dusted across his nose, his zeroed in on her hair. They sat like that for a long time.

"What do you want?" She asked tightly, tapping her fingers against the table in aggravation. She was still fuming at the fact that he was still sitting in _her_ booth.

"Well…" His smile grew, "I was just minding my own business like a gentleman. You know, waiting for my hot chocolate, enjoying the atmosphere of this fine establishment, admiring the beautiful ladies waiting for their own orders—"

"Spit it out already."

He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, "Well, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation."

"Really?" She drawled.

"Really."

She contemplated this for a moment.

"_Why_ does this give you permission to invade my personal booth space?"

"Well, you see, I'm a bit of lady killer myself. I come with earth-shattering, mind-blowing advice."

"Hmpf." She examined her nails, unimpressed.

"This _guy_ you were going on about," Jinx's ears perked up with interest, but she tried to not let it show. The growing smirk on his face told her she was unsuccessful, "He's probably waiting for you to make the next move." The way he said it, so sure of his words, had her on edge. She tried to think back on just how long he had been sitting in the café and how much of the conversation he had heard. She didn't remember ever seeing him walk in, now that she thought about it. Her face drained of the little color it had at the prospect of this stranger having heard _everything_.

She narrowed her eyes, "What makes you sound so sure?"

"I'm a guy." He said cheerfully, "This guy's a guy. I know guys."

"Whatever."

"You're not going to even _consider_ my words of wisdom?"

"Probably not."

He blinked. "You're a blunt one. I like it."

Jinx opened her mouth to retort, but was interrupted by the loud voice of the waitress.

"Here you go, sweetheart," She placed a steaming cup of coffee in front of Jinx and an equally steaming cup of hot chocolate in front of the redhead, "Who's your friend, Jen?" She directed towards the villainess. Jinx winced at the sound of her alias.

"Wally West!" He exclaimed, sticking a hand out. The waitress took it with a smile and shook it firmly. He squinted at her nametag, "It's nice to meet you, Mary."

"The pleasure's mine. Well, enjoy you two!" She said, popping her gum, "Holler if you need anything."

Wally saluted, smiling for all he was worth.

"_Wally_?" Jinx asked incredulously once the waitress was out of earshot, "What kind of name is that?"

"A nice one! What kind of name is Jen?"

"A normal one!"

"Great! Glad we're comfortable with our respective names!"

Jinx didn't bother to mention that she was, in fact, extremely _un_comfortable being called Jen rather than Jinx. Jinx was who she was through and through. Jen was a mask, someone she could hide behind so that society would accept her and not run away in fear at the sight of her. There were days where she wished she didn't have to hide, and those were usually the same days she found herself immersed in her red and yellow sketchbook.

She sighed, and sipped on her coffee.

Wally's eyes softened. He rubbed the back of his neck again, "Ah, sorry. If I'm hitting a sensitive subject, I mean. I probably don't even know what I'm talking about."

"No." She blurted out before she could stop herself.

"No?"

"What you said . . . it does kind of make sense. Maybe he is waiting for me to make the next move." When she thought about it like that, she actually felt a lot of gratitude toward the speedster. All of this 'trusting' business is infinitely more perplexing than the 'hanging out' business. She was glad she could move this at her own pace.

"So…are you going to do it? Make the next move?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Wall-man."

"Fine. _Jenny_."

She glared at him. She abhorred that name. She shook off her annoyance as best she could and pulled a couple of dollars out of her pocket. "Well," She said, drinking the last few sips of her coffee and placing the mug back on the table next to the money, "I'm off. It was sort of nice to meet you, Wally. I hope we never have to meet again."

"Don't count on it." He winked.

"I'm not." She replied honestly. Karma wasn't exactly her best friend, after all. She waved at him halfheartedly as she left the café.

"You've got it bad too, don't you sweetheart?" Mary asked the redhead from the cash register, hand on her hip.

"Yeah." He answered dreamily.

-o-

When Jinx made it back to base, her teammates were nowhere to be seen. Not that she really minded. She had a headache that could rival trephination and she could really use a nap right now. But first, she needed Ibuprofen.

She really needed to play nice with Karma, she decided as she looked through all the cupboards. Not even one _tiny_ Ibuprofen tablet. She would even settle for some Tylenol. But there's not a single form of medication in this whole stupid fortress—aside from vitamin gummies, probably Gizmo's. She growled in frustration, taking a handful of the gummies and stuffing them in her face.

"I need to hex something," She muttered, making her way to her room. She opened her door forcefully, and went straight to her bathroom. She pulled her hair up, and took out her contacts. After splashing some water on her face, she returned to her room and plopped herself down on her bed. She would try to get a little shut eye, and when she'd wake up she would take out her wrath on her teammates. Preferably Billy. He's the most hex-worthy. Or maybe Flash would grace her with his presence. Then maybe she could hex him for just being him.

She smiled.

Oh yeah, that sounded good.

She grabbed Mr. Teddy and clung to him as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

-o-

"This is just _too_ precious!"

Her mind was all groggy, and she opened her blurry eyes a fraction. There was a bright flash, and a snicker and she wondered if this was all a strange dream. She closed her eyes when there was another flash, her eyes not yet adjusted.

"Go away." She swatted her hand at thin air, "'M trying to sleep."

"But Jinx," The voice whined, "I brought my Nintendo."

"Don't care." She turned over, hugging Mr. Teddy closer to her chest.

There was another flash of light, and she opened her eyes wide. She realized all too quickly, that this most certainly was not a dream, and that Kid Flash was taking pictures of her cuddling with a teddy bear. She shot up immediately.

She hexed him.

"Yow!" He yelped, rubbing his side where she had hit him, "What was that for?"

"Where's your camera, Kid?" She asked desperately, ignoring his question.

"What camera?" He asked innocently.

"The one you were just using _two seconds ago_." She growled, her fingers sparking with pink energy.

Kid Flash smiled joyfully, "Ohh, _that_ camera. Well, seeing as I'm the fastest boy alive, I took those two seconds to my advantage and went to Wal-mart. That camera is getting developed as we speak. I'll send you some copies." Jinx made a mental note to destroy every Wal-mart within a fifty mile radius. Kid just smiled like an idiot. Like he didn't realize the world of pain he was throwing himself into.

"You're so dead." She threatened.

"Hey!" He put his hands up defensively, "If I can't lay hands on your precious sketchbook, then I think that my camera should be off-limits to your greedy hands too."

"But _no one_ sees my sketchbook, but _me_."

"And no one will see my camera, but _me._"

"You're still dead."

Flash sighed, "Haven't we already been through this? You killing me…it's like the best death I can think of. You'd be doing me a favor." Jinx's eye twitched. If he really thought that killing him would do him good, then maybe she shouldn't hold back. It'd be doing herself a favor too. She wouldn't have to bear another second in his annoying company.

Ugh. They both knew she wasn't going to actually murder him.

"What do you want?"

He held up his Nintendo 64 in one hand and _The Legend of Zelda_ in the other, "I thought we could save Hyrule together. You know, since you insist that you don't want to save Jump City with me. I figured this was as close as I was gonna get."

_Anytime soon, at least_, he thought to himself.

She raised the part of her face where her eyebrows _should_ have been, "Ocarina of Time?"

He nodded enthusiastically.

She figured the best time to approach this 'trusting' business was later, and that that would always be the best time. And she didn't really even want to think about that right now. To be honest with herself, knowing the face behind his mask kind of scared the living daylights out of her. She was perfectly content in letting this 'hanging out' business stretch on for as long as possible.

"Fine. But you're doing the Water Temple when we get to it."

He laughed, plugging the game in and handing her the controller.

-o-

***A/N: Hey, guys! Thanks for the feedback on the first chapter. It's much appreciated. I hope you guys know that half of this chapter was written after two in the morning. I hope you liked it, nonetheless. Please remember to review!**

**Love ya!**


	3. Rooming With Bad Luck

**Chapter Three**

Jinx had been in a relatively good mood—you know, for her. She'd gotten a full eight of hours of sleep, her headache disappeared, and her and Kid had made it all the way to the Forest Temple in Zelda. Heck, maybe even Gizmo's vitamin gummies did her a little good.

But none of that really even mattered. The point is, she was happy.

Then her teammates had to make her almost-not-frown into a full-on-frown again.

"I told you half-wits that I wanted nothing to do with the Brotherhood," She sniffed, crossing her arms over her chest matter-of-factly, and sticking her nose in the air, "I was also under the impression that none of you cared anyway."

"They're taking out the Titans," Seemore deadpanned, "How could we not care?"

"The Titans don't scare me," She stated, "Why should I care if they patrol the streets at night? I can take them any day."

"Are you in or not?" Gizmo asked, making it clear that this would be the last time that they would ask. Her last chance to partake in something unspeakably evil led by an equally evil organization that she'd admired since she was just a teeny bopper at the H.I.V.E. Academy. Part of her wanted to join them in Paris. Another part kept seeing toothy smiles and blue eyes every time she closed her eyes and felt guilty at even having a part that wanted to join in the evil festivities.

_Guilt_.

That was an awful emotion, but one she found she couldn't ignore anymore. Because it's always _been _there, she's just opted to disregard it.

There was an awkward third party that wanted to punch those blue eyes in the face, but she figured that was a little irrelevant to this decision. She also felt like that part of her should be sated already. She'd already watched the speedster slip across a watery floor, even hit the poor guy across the face with the wet floor sign that she'd stolen from said watery floor.

Let it be known that if there's an urge, there's probably a reason. And she's probably going to point this out to the redhead right before socking him in the face.

"Sorry, I'm out." She answered, coming to a decision somewhere amidst her rambling brain.

Their jaws dropped, if only for a moment. Seemore seemed the most affected by her decision, something close to sadness reflecting in his eye. Although the looks being given to her kind of killed her inside, she also knew she was doing the right thing. Something whispered to heart to take it a little further, and she listened, taking her H.I.V.E. communicator from her belt and throwing it at their feet. Her eyes flashed pink briefly and the device shattered upon impact.

The silence hung thick in the air, polluted with unspoken resignations and transitions no one really wanted to face at the moment. She almost couldn't believe the sight of the broken communicator in front of her eyes. She knew that she should turn her back on them and walk away, but her feet were frozen to the ground. She couldn't take it back, and even if she could she probably wouldn't, but it still stung.

"Good luck."

Those parting words seemed surprisingly honest, even to her own ears.

With a nod she walked away.

-o-

It was when she was walking aimlessly through Jump City, a duffle bag slung over her shoulder, blisters on her feet forming for sure, that she decided that her heart was a stupid thing to listen to because it doesn't think about your living situation when it coaxes you to make life-altering resolutions. And—_holy crap_—these contacts were really irritating the daylights out of her.

Now all she needed was a poorly-timed thunderstorm, and her misfortune would be complete.

She pulled out her umbrella, already foreseeing the way Karma really loved to make her miserable. The rain really started coming down within a second. She rolled her eyes, scowling at the heavens wondering what she did in a past life to deserve this.

While she was cursing the skies, she didn't really have the capacity to keep her eyes where she was walking at the same time. She knocked into something wet and tall and something that must have been running, because that _hurt. _Her umbrella went flying, as did she, and she was soaked in seconds. She looked up from where her butt had been planted into the ground to tell off whoever ran into her but stopped short.

"I _would_ run into you."

There knelt that dumb redhead from the café, offering her an apologetic hand. She eyed it cautiously, noting the way rain dripped down his skin rapidly. He was covered in water from head to toe. She took it despite her pride, and stood up. She figured that she could take help from someone Karma seemed to hate as much as her.

"Ah, sorry," He said, rubbing the back of his neck. He seemed to do that a lot, Jinx noted, along with lame apologies, "The rain surprised me. Came out of nowhere, huh?" When she didn't grace him with a reply, he continued, "I was in a rush to get home; I wasn't really paying attention to my surroundings…What's your excuse?"

"I was cursing the heavens."

He took that in stride, nodding as if it were a completely normal response, "Can't walk and curse the heavens at the same time? I know the feeling."

"Wally, right?"

"Aw, you remembered!"

"How could I forget a name as ridiculous as Wally?"

"How could you indeed?"

"Right." She shuffled, looking past him into the pouring rain. She plucked her umbrella off the ground and readjusted her bag on her shoulder, "Well, I've really got to get going. There was this place I had to be…and I really need to be there…"

"You want me to walk with you?" His eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"I don't need to be taken care of like a child. I can make it there just fine by myself." She glared at him despite the way the words rolled off her tongue like a lie. The problem was, she didn't really know where she was going. She began to walk and was displeased to find him following her. "Besides," She continued, "I thought you were in a rush."

"Yeah, to get out of this rain."

"Where I'm going isn't close. Go home." She made a point to clutch the umbrella as close to herself as possible, leaving no room for the redhead to join her. He didn't seem the least bit phased by this action. He only smiled goofily at her.

"Where is it, exactly, you're going?"

"Away."

"It sounds like you don't really know."

"Maybe I don't," She grumbled, biting her lip in irritation, "So what?"

"Do you have a place to stay for the night?"

She growled, "Are you offering?"

"I wouldn't mind the company," He replied honestly.

"I decline."

He winced, halting his pace and watching as she continued to walk away from him. _Finally_, she thought in relief, _he knows when to give up_. She was probably trudging on for a good ten seconds before he called out to her again.

"You always turn away from people trying to help you?"

She stopped in her tracks, turning to look at the boy she barely knew. He was several feet away from her, and it was hard to tell from the rain but she thought that he looked worried. Like he cared for her, even though they had only met once in a café. She walked towards him slowly, stopping only when their noses were about to touch.

"Why are you so interested in me?" Jinx nearly growled, barely containing her anger at him and at the words spilling from her mouth. Words so familiar to her heart, that had been spoken in between cages and sandwiches and wild goose chases. She was showing weakness again. _Ohh, you're going to see what makes me tick._ She didn't care.

"Something about you caught my attention, Jen." He said sincerely, smiling down at her. She could see the rain dripping down his nose and jaw line and she nearly had to avert her eyes so that she'd stop thinking about those stupid freckles that spilled across his nose, "I don't mean to intrude into your life. I just want to help you."

She sighed, and stepped away from him. She crossed her arms over her chest like it would protect her from the world and everything it seemed to be throwing at her.

"Fine."

He smiled, and she let him under her umbrella.

-o-

"You have your own apartment?" She questioned incredulously as he opened the door to said apartment, "You're…what? Fifteen?" She walked in, sizing the place up. It wasn't that bad, she had to admit. The TV looked decent, and he even had a pretty nice kitchen. It was also surprisingly clean, considering a teenage boy was living here.

"Sixteen, thank you." He replied easily, "And it's not _my_ apartment. It's my uncle's."

"And he just let you stay here, unsupervised?" Not like she had much room to talk. The only time she ever had 'supervision' was at the Academy. Let's not even dwell on the fact that that same supervision was evil, not to mention training her to be an assassin.

"Not exactly…" He admitted sheepishly, "He doesn't really know I'm here."

_That_ interested her.

"And here I was thinking you were a goody-goody two shoes." Her lips twisted up into this evil smile that he wasn't sure if he liked.

"What makes you think that?" He asked, unable to keep his eyes off that malicious looking smirk.

Nope, he definitely liked it.

"I've met my fair share." She replied cryptically.

Of course, he knew what she meant by that. But_ she_ didn't need to know he knew. He didn't really have a problem revealing to her that Wally West was, in fact, the same speedster that watched movies and played video games with her. He's actually imagined her reaction a couple of times, and all end rather comically. But he's already decided that this was something he would let her deal with in her own time. And while running into her today, _was_ a coincidence, finding her at the café was not.

He was good at finding loopholes. And this was one where he got to hang out with Jinx off-duty _and_ spare her the knowledge of his secret identity.

So props for his ingenuity.

He couldn't shake this feeling, however, that it would blow up in his face in the end.

Ah, well.

"Want to take a shower?" He asked, shaking his head of his thoughts. He gestured to the bathroom, before sitting down on the couch and munching on a candy bar that he seemingly pulled out of nowhere. Jinx wanted to ask where it came from, but she restrained herself. Instead she nodded, unzipping her bag and peeking inside. She let out a sigh of relief—while the outside was thoroughly soaked, the inside was not. Her clothes were dry, as was the little money she brought with her, and, thankfully, so was her sketchbook.

"It may be a while." She said, walking into the bathroom. And just before she closed the door behind her, she let out a soft, "Thanks." Wally smiled to himself and continued to snack on his candy. When she reemerged forty minutes later, pajamas on and towel around her head, he didn't bring up the fact that he had heard her singing Rihanna's _Umbrella_. He rather liked his life intact. But it did make him chuckle, considering that she'd shared _her_ umbrella with him not to long ago.

He left out some fruit in case she wanted to snack on anything, and then proceeded to shower himself. She grabbed a grape and stuffed it in her mouth, grumbling. She wondered where she could get her hands on one of those candy bars he had. She could really use a fix of chocolate right now. She was beginning to drool just at the thought of it.

She winced when she heard the undeniable sound of the redhead's singing in the shower. He sounded _awful._ She couldn't quite make out the song he was singing—wait. Her eyes widened, and she began to fume in anger and embarrassment. He was singing _Umbrella!_ He'd heard her in the shower, he must have. How humiliating. How _aggravating_.

There was that ever elusive eye twitch.

She blew out a puff of air, trying to make herself relax.

"You're getting worked up over nothing, Jinx." She told herself, "If you can room with the idiots you used to call teammates, you can handle this guy. In fact, you can probably handle _anything_." Trephination came to mind again.

She winced as his voice cracked when he started up the chorus again.

That's it. She was so getting out of here.

She glanced out the window and was pleased to see that the rain had let up. She clutched her duffle bag to her person, and walked into what she assumed was Wally's bedroom. She quickly got changed into her usual 'Jinx' outfit and somehow managed to put her wet hair up. She opened up his window and peered down. There was a fire escape she could land on. She jumped out the window and grabbed onto its railing easily, pulling herself up.

When Wally got out of the shower to find her nowhere in sight, he was momentarily worried that she'd run off for good. But when he walked into his room and saw her bag on his bed, he knew that she'd be back.

Suddenly, an idea began to form in his head. He changed quickly into his suit, and sped out the door.

-o-

She didn't really have an objective in mind as she jumped from building to building. All she knew was that she wanted to hex something, and get the sound of Wally's horrid singing out of her head.

Fifteen minutes later, and still no unsuspecting victims, Jinx decided to give it a break for little.

"Jinx." She jumped, _seriously_ not expecting it. She turned around, surprised to see Kid Flash standing behind her near the edge of the rooftop.

She smiled. She supposed that _he_ would do.

"You weren't at your base." He looked earnest and almost happy, "You weren't at your base, but the rest of your team was. From the looks of it, not for long though."

Her hand stopped on its way to hex him. Ugh. They were going to start _this_ conversation.

"Yeah, so?"

"Did you…quit?"

"Quit what? Thieving, plotting, hurting the innocent? Or did I quit my team?" She growled, "Be a little more specific, Kid."

He raised an eyebrow, "Both."

"Yeah, I quit my team." As for the first question, she wasn't all that sure of the answer. For one thing, she didn't really even feel the desire to do any of those things anymore. She was starting a life away from her former team, why couldn't it be a normal one? For another thing, as much as she loathed to admit, she didn't want to disappoint Kid Flash and his stupid lightning bolts.

She decided to leave that question unanswered, even though she was pretty sure she knew what it was.

They stared at each for a long time. He looked expectant. She looked annoyed.

The silence was broken when his communicator started beeping. She backed away, figuring she'd let him deal with his hero business. She was surprised when he grabbed her by the wrist, halting her. She watched him as he inspected the coordinates from the device, and the rest of the information probably provided by the police department. When he was done, he looked up at her.

"You busy?" He inquired.

"I was actually in search of something to hex."

"Great." He flashed a smile, "Since you're _not_ busy, wanna join me?" He held out a hand for her to take.

She eyed it disbelievingly, "You're kidding right?" To be honest, his invitation was laughable. She held it back for his benefit. She was barely comfortable with the 'hanging out' business, let's not even get started on the 'trusting' business, but now he was throwing this ridiculous 'crime fighting' business in her face?

How dare he!

He wiggled his fingers.

"I just left a team, Flash. I don't know if I'm ready to join another one. They can be extremely headache inducing." She sent a pointed stare his way.

"Don't think of it as a team, then." He rubbed his chin in thought, "How about a partnership?"

"Doesn't sound much better."

"Just this once?" He paused, "Please?"

He was giving her the puppy dog eyes. And gosh darnit, did she hate those puppy dog eyes.

"Fine!" She violently took his hand, making sure she scratched him good with her fingernails, "Just this once, Flash, or so help m—AH!" That was all he needed to hear to gain the confidence to throw her over his shoulders and run at top speed to the crime scene, laughing like a madman and smiling for every ounce he was worth.

-o-

***A/N: Quite a few transitions in one chapter, but this is where the story really kicks off. Also, thanks to everyone who reviewed and liked and followed this story. It really means a lot to me! Hope you enjoyed, and remember to leave a little review. Toodles!**


	4. Hindering Crime With Bad Luck

**Chapter Four**

Kid Flash and Jinx peeked their heads out from the wall they were currently hiding behind, assessing the situation. To Kid Flash, this mission looked like a piece of cake. To Jinx, it looked like it had the potential for major trouble. And she was trying to avoid another headache.

There was a man a floor beneath them disabling security and making his way over to large, shiny safe.

"That's one of Dr. Light's cronies," She whispered to Kid Flash, furrowing her eyebrows in thought. You know, if she had any eyebrows to furrow in the first place.

Warning bells were going off in her head. She had assumed that all the bad guys, no matter how incompetent and annoying, were being called upon by the Brotherhood to take out the Titans. Because, yeah, Dr. Light kind of sucked at the whole villain gig, but there's still power in numbers. One bungling fool could be taken out in a matter of seconds. But a hundred bungling fools…

Jinx decided against her better judgment to voice her thoughts to the speedster who looked far too eager to start the butt-whooping.

"I figured he'd be helping out the Brotherhood. I wonder why he's still in Jump."

"The Brotherhood?" Kid Flash asked incredulously, throwing her a look, "I thought you didn't want anything to do with them anymore."

"I don't," She agreed, "But they're gearing to take out the Titans. I don't know how they're doing it, or for what purpose, but I suggest we stay cautious." Madame Rouge had to know that Kid Flash was still in charge of patrolling Jump. This could easily be a trap.

"When were you planning on telling me about the Brotherhood's evil plan?" He asked, obnoxiously poking her in the side.

"Never." She replied honestly.

He rolled his eyes.

"Anyways," He began, watching as the criminal attempted to break into a high-security safe, "You said it yourself: this is only one of his cronies. What if Dr. Light really is helping out the Brotherhood? He probably kept some of his lackeys here to disturb the peace."

This time, she rolled her eyes.

"You don't know a thing about cronies, do you?"

"Never had one," He admitted.

"Well _I_ have."

"Your point?"

"They don't just _stay behind_. Especially when we're talking about a villain more idiotic than _Beast Boy_. Dr. Light wouldn't just jump up and leave the only things that actually give him a backbone behind. He's here in the city," She stated with conviction. An idea occurred to her, "He's probably even here in the vicinity."

"This is _great_ advice coming from the ex-villainess whose own cronies abandoned her to join forces with the Brotherhood of Evil." Jinx was actually impressed with the sheer amount of sarcasm that sentence held. Still didn't mean she'd let him get away with bruising her ego. But now wasn't the time for that. She'd get him back later.

"Listen, Kid Idiot," She seethed, "If Dr. Light _is_ here then that means that this is a trap. You're lucky you had me here to be the brains, otherwise your spandex-covered butt would be shipped off straight to Madame Rouge."

"Lucky," He breathed, smiling goofily, "I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right!" She affirmed, ignoring the way he made it sound like she was actually using her luck for 'good'. How ludicrous. "Now wipe that stupid smile off your face and listen. I've got a plan." And while she delved into the details, Kid Flash couldn't help but think of how amazing she'd be as a Titan. The bad guys wouldn't stand a chance.

-o-

Jinx lithely maneuvered herself through the shadows, waiting. She had to stop herself from huffing in annoyance. If she were the one breaking into this safe, she'd have been in thirty minutes ago. Honestly. Where's a high-class villain when you need one?

As she inspected more closely, she noted that he was fairly close to cracking it—finally. She sent a signal to Kid Flash, who was sticking his head out from the wall. He nodded to her and disappeared behind it again.

She was already jumping down to the lower floor when a residual _click_ echoed through the warehouse, and the wannabe-thief was opening the safe wide open. He didn't even notice her sneaking up behind him, all too entranced by his prize. Jinx was astounded at how much of an amateur he really was. _Always be aware of your surroundings,_ she mentally chided.

She cleared her throat to gain his attention. He already had his hands on the item within the safe. A weapon, she noted. It was sleek and all high-tech, but she's seen one before. A level-four containment field. The unexpected noise behind him caused the goon to jump, throwing it in the air clumsily only to have it fall in his hands a moment later. He turned towards her, eyebrow raised. When he saw who it was, he snorted.

"Well, if it isn't the renowned sorceress of bad luck."

She didn't like his tone.

"If you came for this," He twirled the device around in his hand, "You're too late. Finder's keepers."

As if he could keep it away from her. She rolled her eyes. "In fact, that is what I came for." Uninterested, she stared intently at her nails as she spoke, "I've got a job to do. For the Brotherhood. And I intend to complete it."

His eyes nearly bugged out of his head, and she restrained the urge to smile smugly, "Funny you say that. Dr. Light's got a job to do for the Brotherhood too. He ain't buying into all that talk that's going around. About Paris. He wants nothing to do with the Brotherhood, just wants to see the Titans off the streets."

"For once, Dr. Light may have made a smart move. I'm inclined to agree with him. But really, we all know they're going to fail. The Titans will come back, and they'll outnumber you with the rest of the villains out of the picture. I'd say it's a pretty dumb move of the Brotherhood, gathering together in one place like that. Makes it kind of easy for the Titans to take 'em out."

"You wantin' the Titans to win?"

"Of course not," Jinx scoffed.

"Then what's all your talk about?"

"I'm merely stating facts." She eyed him, "Now, you have something I want."

"Why do you want to do the Brotherhood's dirty work if it's all just a big waste of time, eh?" He clutched the device closer to his chest and away from her.

"Two words. Kid Flash." His eyes widened again in surprise. "That's who you're after right?" He didn't respond, but the look on his face told her everything, "Well, I've got a personal vendetta against him. I don't care for the Brotherhood. But this mission would be my honest pleasure. Do you have any more questions for me?"

"Yeah." He gulped, "Why haven't you kicked my butt yet?"

She smiled devilishly, lashing out her hand with one of her stronger hexes. It hit him square in the chest. He yelped, but did not relinquish his hold on the containment field. He reacted immediately, blasting at her with a beam of light. She dodged it easily, throwing quick hexes at him as she did so. He managed to get out of the way of a few, but one hit the hand holding the device and it flew across the room.

That's when Kid Flash decided to make his grand entrance.

He zoomed by in a flash of yellow and red, knocking both her and the goon to the ground. He pulled out some rope, seemingly from nowhere (she was going to have to ask him how he did that), and quickly tied up Dr. Light's crony. When he turned to her with the rope, she glared up at him as if to say _don't you dare_.

He actually had the sense to gulp. Nonetheless, he tied her up.

She hated how this had to be a part of the plan. This was so humiliating.

"What was this about you guys sending me off to the Brotherhood?" He inquired, smiling cheekily.

"Don't speak so soon, Kid Flash."

Jinx watched as Dr. Light appeared from the shadows, hand curled around the containment field. He pointed it at Kid Flash, and the next thing she knew there was a flash of bright light and Kid Flash was on all fours, grunting in pain.

Her eyes flashed pink, and the rope disintegrated around her.

She thought back to minutes before, when she and the speedster were discussing this plan.

"_Is that really necessary?" _He had asked, _"Those containment fields aren't the most pleasant things in the universe. Besides, how do you know that what's in the safe?"_

"_Trust me, I know. And yes. It is necessary. While simply pick pocketing the device would be easier and less painful on your part, if Dr. Light is working for the Brotherhood, then he's going to report to them. If they know I saved you they'll only send more people to come after the both of us. If I make it seem like I want rid of you for my own personal reasons, they won't think twice about it. Bing bang boom."_

"_If you say so."_

There was something about this situation now, however, with Kid Flash clutching his abdomen in obvious pain, that pulled at her heartstrings and made her want to throttle Dr. Light into next Thursday. So she did just that. It wasn't all that hard, considering he was as inept at fighting as he was at being remotely intimidating. All it took was a couple of hexes and a roundhouse kick to the jugular, and he was out cold.

By the looks of it, his goon was peeing his pants. Jinx knocked him out too.

She retrieved the containment field. Her eyes flashed, and it cracked in her hand. She could hear Flash panting behind her. She knew she had to face him, but she really didn't want to. There were strong emotions running rampant through her body, like somebody had released all the animals from the imaginary farm inside her brain where they quickly decided to run wild on a raging stampede.

She felt like she was about to _cry_.

She _must_ be PMSing.

"Whew." Kid Flash breathed, "I feel like that gets worse every time."

Jinx turned her head slightly so she could catch a peek of him through her peripherals. Even from the side of her eyes, he wasn't looking good. Gosh, why did she even _care_? If she lost Kid Flash, the worse she's supposed to feel is bummed at losing the peon she had defeating all the confusing temples in Zelda for her.

"Jinx?"

She felt tears. She told them to take a hike. They decided to take one down her face.

"What's wrong?" She felt a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm feeling." She muttered, loud enough for him to barely make out the words. She wiped furiously at her eyes, and sniffled a little, "It's nothing to worry about." Emotions were pesky things, she reasoned, and they infiltrate even the best of criminals, "Look, this was fun. I guess. Five out of ten." Kid Flash admired how quickly she seemed to regain her usual biting personality, but couldn't help but notice the way she wouldn't look him in the eye, "But I gotta go. Yeah. Bye."

She moved to escape, but Kid Flash caught her arm before she could blink.

"Wait."

She sighed, "What?"

After a moment she realized that he wasn't saying anything, and that his eyes were boring into the side of her face. He wasn't going to relent until she looked him in those annoying blue eyes. Jinx would tell you later that she only conceded because she wanted to get some shut eye.

"I just wanted to say thanks. I would've been toast without you." He smiled when she rolled her eyes, "We should definitely do this more often."

She shook his hand off her arm, "You _would_ have been toast without me. And we should seriously stick to Monopoly." With that said, she flicked a hex at the window and jumped into the night.

-o-

**A/N: Aye. So, sorry it's been a while. I've been on vay-kay. Also, sorry this chapter sucks. Sorry if there are any typos. I'll fix those later. Sorry that I'm too lazy to do it now.**

**I love you guys. You complete me.**

**Things are getting mushy, oh no.**

**Review? (:**


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